Take What You Can
by whitereflections12
Summary: AU, written after watching Part 2. Just because the battle is over, doesn't mean everyone automatically gets a happily ever after...people are human, and things tend to go unsaid that shouldn't have...maybe, in the end all you have are moments. R


Ok, so even though I mostly want to work on Cain/Glitch I love Cain/DG too and this plot bunny just attacked me with sharp little fangs(in the car no less…they should have respect for drivers. O.0) . Beware the angst. And the comforting!protective!Cain.

This takes place after DG is queen, and was written before watching Part 3 so basically…disregard everything seen in Part 3, for my purposes.

Ok, I've gone back and edited and I THINK I got all the typos/little missing words. If there's something I missed, let me know. :)

As for a disclaimer, if I owned Tin Man…well, I would be dying of joy. But, other than that, it would be longer than three parts. And it isn't. So that means I don't own it.

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He was never more than just a few steps behind her, watching over her from the shadows. On days like today, when she had had meetings with several of her advisors, he stood just behind her, still in the shadows. Watching and waiting, hand on his gun and eyes on the surroundings and every stranger they encountered. And on every friend. He knew well that betrayal came from the inside more often than not. He did trust a few. DG. Glitch. Raw. That was it. That was all there would probably ever be.

He heard her laugh and he snapped his head away from the courtyard he had been checking to where she sat on a bench with Glitch, laughing at the birds in the snow. Cain allowed himself a small smile. She was so beautiful when she laughed, and he loved the sound of it…so sweet and wild and everything about her fit into one sound. She was more than a Queen. She had more personality than most royalty ever allowed themselves, probably because she had grown up away from it all. So much the better, he thought. Glitch was still stuck with his half brain. The surgeons knew there had to be a way to reconnect it, but it had been damaged by Azkadeallia's prodding. Three annuals later, and they said they were still working on it. DG kept asking, all the time, but she was too nice to threaten and cared too much about it being done just right…it could be annuals more, yet, before the doctors were ready to try to re-transplant his brain. Glitch said it was alright, he didn't mind. Of course he didn't. He never minded anything.

Three annuals. Raw was still Raw. He lived in the palace but nothing much, if anything, about him had changed. As for DG…

He remembered the wedding as if it was yesterday. Probably because he had seen in yesterday, or, last night to be specific, in his dreams. He saw it often in his dreams. It was an image he could not rid himself of. Both the commoners and advisors(as well as her mother)had been eager to find a husband for DG, a king for The O.Z. Cain had been less eager to see it happen, and she had been a little overwhelmed but she had met the suitors, the sons of lesser royalty.

And he…he had said nothing. He regretted it, now, bitterly. The way he regretted so many other things. He wanted to say he had kept silent for her benefit. It might not look good marrying him. He was, after all, just a Tin Man. The Captain of her guard, but still just a Tin Man. But he would have been lying if he said that was the only reason. He was afraid. Afraid that by going out on a limb he would lose everything, afraid that she saw him as nothing more than a good friend. He was terrified, most of all, of his own feelings. He had come over those years in his metal prison not to feel…doing so again was uncomfortable and hard and it would be easier, he reasoned, not to get involved. Easier. Ha. There was nothing easy about standing behind the woman you loved as she married a stranger. There was nothing easy about seeing him with her every day at dinner, nothing easy about knowing he shared her bed.

He could have left, but he could have never done that to her. She needed him, and he needed to be near her in the same way he needed water to live. She needed his protection, and there was nothing he loved more in the world than taking care of her. Besides, no one else would do the job as thoroughly. She rarely left his sight.

He was sure she never knew it, but when the king was out of town, he would sometimes watch her while she slept. She was beautiful, so heartbreakingly beautiful and never his. He still wasn't even sure she would have wanted to be. They had never spoken of it, and he wasn't keen on bringing it up. Not now. It would do no good. Either she loved him or she didn't. If she did, he would only cause her pain; if she didn't, it would make their friendship awkward, something he wanted at all costs to avoid. Her friendship was the highlight of his life. No, he would suffer the knowledge alone rather than cause her problems. Suffering was familiar. It was a weight he could carry.

"Cain."

He had, for a minute, gotten distracted. Cursing his stupidity, he turned to his queen. "Your Highness?"

She smiled, warm. "Would you stop that? It's just me. Come on, I want to get back to my room and have some time to myself before dinner…if I stay out here, I just know that emissary from the south is going to come back and try to talk to me about his housing plan again…"

He followed her back inside, down the corridor and to the staircase that led to her room. "Should I tell the kitchen to have dinner sent up to you?"

She shook her head, hair falling in her eyes. "No. I'll be down. If I'm late, tell Tristan I'm coming."

Tristan. Son of an Earl. Black haired, green eyed and picture perfect to the maids. He had never been more jealous of any man than he was him, but it had nothing to do with his looks. And, to top it all, he was certain the idiot had no idea what he had.

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DG had slipped well into her life as Queen and there many things about it she enjoyed, but the meetings weren't part of that. She loved getting away and getting out of it, feeling more like herself. She still felt out of place discussing matters of state, but she figured it would come to her. Hopefully. Eventually.

She sat down at her mirror, in her own clothes once more, at a desk that used to be Azkedeallia's. As did everything in this room. A little weird, but she hadn't minded and she had refused the offers by the army to have everything in here destroyed. She felt sorry for her sister, now, more than she hated her. She wanted to remember her, at least a little bit. Pulling open a lower drawer she fished around for the papers she was sure she had placed in there earlier. It was a letter to her "parents" and she wanted to finish it before-

Her hand fell, instead, on a button. A button that released a space under the drawer when she pressed it. Curious, she knelt down beside the drawer and fished around, drawing out three small round disk that reminded her of the inside of some of the shells she had seen in stores at the beach as a child. "What is this…" She murmured softly into the silence, turning one piece over and over in her hand. It felt smooth but also…powerful. A magical object? Maybe…

She crossed the room and opened a side door, stepping into the room where they had stored the personal magical artifacts of Askedeallia. She knew she had seen a machine before with a disk shaped hole and Glitch had said it was a reader…there was probably information on this disk. When she found was she was looking for she grabbed its base and tugged it back into her room, shutting the door behind her and sitting down on the edge of the bed to examine it. Now. To see if it worked. Taking a deep breath, she slipped the disk in and waited.

And was immediately treated to an image of Toto. The traitor. So, this was how Azkedeallia had trailed them. They had never been certain. Then, the piece was laid on the ground. Then…the four of them, walking side by side. Watching from this angle, she could see the way Cain shadowed her, his eyes cutting into the surrounding trees. Watching. Always, always watching out for her. The image changed to one of Azkedeallia's beastly pets but DG pulled it out and re-inserted it, playing the scene of them walking again.

Everything was better then. She had heard people say that when you looked back on your life, some of the times you thought were the hardest can turn out to be some of the best. It didn't matter that she had been on the run. Those were the best times of her life. She had been free, on a mission, traveling with her friends….traveling with Cain. She pulled the chip out and into her hand, tucking her legs up under her and leaning against the headboard of the bed.

Cain. She could remember everything about those early days. She could remember the first time she had seen him. She could remember the first time they had fought(soon after). She could remember how much he drove her crazy. She could remember the first time she saw him smile. And she could remember everything about when she had seen him again, after she thought he was dead. Everything down to the way he had felt and smelled when she hugged him. So good.

Tears sprang to her eyes without warning. She had hoped, foolishly, that maybe they could be together. It was stupid, and she should have known it. He could never have loved her. He loved only the one he had lost, forever trapped in the past. She had freed him, but his heart was still a prisoner. She wished, now, she could have locked hers away along with it. If she had, it wouldn't have mattered that she had married a stranger for the good of her kingdom.

As it was, it did matter. She didn't love Tristan. He was nice enough, usually, but she could never love him. Not when she was in love with another man and always would be. She was smart enough to know, though, that a kingdom needed an heir and was generally supposed to have a king. She did what she felt she needed to do, even if her insides were screaming in pain at her decision. She had done it, she had gotten past it. Sort of. She was adjusted. That didn't mean it didn't still hurt, didn't mean she didn't still tremble inside when Cain touched her or relish the time she got alone with him. He was her confidante and her best friend. He was, for her, perfect. She should have counted herself lucky, she knew, just to have him in her life at all.

She knew that, logically, but the tears kept falling anyway. When she heard the knock on the door she began to hastily wipe them away, voice admirably strong when she called out, "Who is it?"

"It's me."

Cain. Speak of the devil. Or, guardian angel as the case may be. "Alright."

She had tried to wipe all the tears away but she knew by the look on his face she had done a miserable job. "I'm fine."

"DG…"

"Really I'm…" A last stray tear slipped and she rubbed at it fiercely. "I'm-" She stood and he met her, taking her in his arms and holding her against his chest. She relaxed into him, too relieved to feel him holding her to care that he would ask questions soon enough.

"It's alright…Shh…it's alright." His voice was so soothing, so comforting. It was rough, yes, but she could see, could feel through that. She loved the sound. She sighed, rested her forehead against his warm shoulder and breathed him in. He smelled like he always did. Woods, and something that was uniquely Wyatt Cain. "DG, what happened?"

The questions came sooner than she had hoped. "Nothing."

"Are…you and Tristan fighting?"

Honestly, she doubted she and Tristan cared enough about each other to fight. "No."

"Is it…something he did? Something someone else did?"

"You can cut the 20 questions anytime."

Sighing, Cain pushed her out to arms length. "Yeah, well, I know you. Whatever the hell happened, it isn't nothing. You don't cry over nothing. I just…thought I might could help." Seeming to decide it was his queen he was talking to, he pulled away a little, his face becoming more serious. "I just wanted to make sure…nothing happened."

Now he was thinking she just didn't want to tell him. Feeling guilty, she shook her head. "No it's…there was something. But it's just me being emotional, that's all." Her hands still rested on his shoulders from where he had backed up and she moved closer again. She wasn't distancing herself from him. She couldn't ever let him think that. "I'll be fine. A…a little support was just what I needed. Thank you."

She was relieved to see him nod, slide his comforting arms around her again. She relaxed, until she looked back up and into his eyes. She swallowed hard. He was looking back at her, and the look in his eyes…the ever present pain, worry, and… "Cain…" He tightened his hold on her, leaned just a little further over. Mezmerized by his eyes, she tipped her head up to meet him, her heart pounding hard enough to beat out of her chest. He kissed her, hesitant at first but when he felt her lips part under his he cradled her head in the palm of his hand and kissed her passionately, forcefully, his tongue both dominating hers and dancing with it. Suddenly, he pulled away.

"I…Sorry. I'm sorry, DG." He was backing away, looking away.

The first thing she felt, in tandem with a sharp pain, was fury. "Then what the hell did you do that for? Why are people always doing things like that and saying they're sorry? Either don't do it in the first place or don't be sorry!"

"I…what?"

He looked genuinely confused, but she wasn't sure she wanted to explain. "Never mind just…never mind." No, she didn't want to leave it at that. "Cain, wait…" He stopped, but he didn't look at her. "I just…" She was at a loss for words, and she was grateful when he turned around. What could she say? I didn't want you to be sorry? I didn't want you to stop? What? "I love you." It slipped out before she could stop it, and when it did she could hardly believe she had said it. Her whole body tensed, her heart between stopping and exploding in the time it took him to collect a response.

"You…" Even that wasn't a complete sentence. "You married Tristan." His tone was a little accusatory and that brought the tears back before she could stop them.

Perfect, make this her fault. Everything was her fault. "Because I thought you could never love me! I wanted you, damn it!" She took a breath and calmed, shaking her head. "I always wanted you."

"You don't love him." It wasn't a question but a statement.

"I never have. I never could. I just…did what I had to do. Because I thought I had waited long enough for you to come around. And I thought…you never would, so I should just take what I could get. You, as my Tin Man. My annoying head of security. My best friend."

Before she could register his movement he had her in his arms again, left arm around her waist and right hand tangled in her hair, holding her head back to kiss her more thoroughly than she could ever remember anyone doing in her life. She let him lead, let him control her. It was what he did best, anyway. Her title had never mattered much between them. To him, she always came first but under his circumstances. His advice always meant more than all her advisors put together. And now…now, she was more than happy to follow his lead. She trusted him implicitly, blindly. It wasn't a bad thing. He pushed her slowly, gently but firmly back toward the bed until her knees hit the edge and bent. He pulled her up higher on it to lay full across it, lay across her with his lips never leaving her own. He had her pinned with his weight, hands running now down her body to take her wrists and pull them up over her head. His lips left hers, burned a trail down her neck and to the collar of her t-shirt, stopping to suck warmly at her collarbone, an action which drew a soft moan from her lips, causing him to pause. "Tristan?" She shivered at the feel of hot breath on damp skin, but she shook her head.

"No. He's out. Won't be back until seven for dinner."

He kissed her again, mumbled against her lips. "Good. Still… Be quiet."

Be quiet. Easier said than done, with what he was doing. He ran his hands under her shirt, pulling it up and over her head. She longed to push his trench coat from his shoulders, longed to touch him but though she tugged against his grip he wouldn't release her wrists. Soon, he had undressed her entirely only after which did he at least shrug off his coat and shove it to the floor. He ran his right hand everywhere, his lips ceaselessly traveling between hers and the sensitive skin on her neck.

When that searching hand cupped her breast her breath shook at the fire in his eyes. When it slipped lower, she bit her lip hard to keep from crying out. God, if he wasn't good at everything…in her mind, he always had been but that and reality were too different things and…she couldn't focus on even that train of thought and instead, arched into his hand and whispered his name as loudly as she dared. He kissed her then more tenderly than before, slowing his pace to taste her leisurely, drawing her lower lip between his own before he finally had to pull away for air. His fingers continued working inside her but when she rocked against him, desperate, he would back off, only to resume as soon as she relaxed a little. "Cain…please…"

He squeezed her wrists in his hand. "Have to make it last."

She knew him for speaking few but profound words, and even now he was no different. He was right, of course. She wasn't sure how often they would get a chance to be together like this, to make love without too much fear of discovery. And this first time especially, that should be special. Still…she was close and impatient, anxious for the feel of his skin against hers and him inside her. And just because he was in control didn't mean she couldn't manipulate him. She whimpered, softly, body rising against him. "Please…I want to feel you…"

She had thought that might do it. He released her wrists, pulled back to yank his shirt over his head and toss it to the ground, stood briefly to kick off his boots and shove off his pants. Then, he was back on top of her, skin against skin and she was running her hands over his muscled chest and onto his back, reveling in the contact. Nothing, no sex she had ever had in her life had felt like this. She felt high, dizzy, and so in love with him she didn't think she should have been able to breathe.

He kissed her warmly, the 'I love you' clear in his kiss and in his eyes as he entered her, swallowing the cry she couldn't hold back. They moved together, held each other like lifelines, their lips meeting between every unsteady breath. She fell over the edge first, nails digging into his back harder than she intended but he didn't seem to mind. He shuddered, groaned against her shoulder and let his body slump to rest fully against her, a slight residual tremor running through them both. Aftershocks.

Breath still hitched, she ran her hand through his close cropped hair, kissed the forehead that rested against her chest. She didn't say anything, and she didn't need to. They had communicated a thousand things in the past…how long had it been? She wasn't sure, but she was sure it couldn't have been as long as it felt.

Finally, she did speak. "Cain…what are we going to do?" She knew the answer, but he was the leader. She needed his advice. She needed to hear that soft, rough voice.

"What we can." He turned his head, rested on his chin so he could speak to her also with his eyes. "There's nothing else we can do."

He was always, always right. Unfortunately.

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_9 months later_

She had wondered. It had hovered over her head, in her dreams and in her waking thoughts for the past months and now…

Now, she held in her arms a beautiful baby boy with storm grey eyes and soft blonde hair. She barely registered the words of the maid bobbing joyfully beside her, but the last words she did register. "His Majesty should be coming into the city in a few hours, miss, but we sent a rider out to fetch him home as soon as possible to see his boy."

His boy. _His_ boy? She hated the thought. Clariey headed out the door but she stopped her when she reached it. "Send Cain in. I have…a matter to discuss with him."

The maid nodded, obediently, but she didn't really having any fetching to do for she opened the door to find Cain ready to rush in. He was anxious, hat in his hands, but her smile calmed him just a little. The maid shut the door behind him but he hardly noticed, walking toward the bed as if in a trance, eyes on the baby in her arms. When he reached her side, she tilted her arms to give him a better look.

"He…I wondered but he…" He couldn't even say it. He swallowed hard. "DG…"

She smiled at the boy, then at him. "Come closer and hold him." She placed a soft kiss on the little one's forehead. "Go see your daddy." She could whisper it to him now, when he was too young to remember. When he grew older…he could never know. She knew it but right now…right now, Cain was taking him in his arms and she wasn't sure if her smile or his was wider.

The boy's hands waved, came to rest grasping onto Cain's left hand. Picture perfect. She knew, now, how something could at once be the greatest and most painful thing in the world. They could never be a family, she knew that. But Cain was right. They could take what they could get, whatever that may be. This moment…that was one of those things.


End file.
